Handbook of Recycling

Chapter 19

Recycling of Carbon Fibers

Soraia Pimenta¹,  and Silvestre T. Pinho^2     1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK     ²Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK

Abstract

The use of carbon fibers has been growing exponentially, prompting the development of sustainable recycling routes for the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste generated. Mechanical and thermochemical (e.g. pyrolysis) fiber reclamation processes are reviewed; it is shown that, under optimized conditions, most processes can recover fibers with virtually no degradation of mechanical and electrical properties. Reintroducing the fibers into new composites is challenging ...